“The U.S. Department of the Interior is scheduled to publish a notice in the Federal Register tomorrow inviting Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as the United States’ next nomination to be prepared for World Heritage List consideration by the World Heritage Committee,” according to a press release issued Thursday by the Ohio History Connection.

This is the next step in the process through which officials with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decide the sites deserve the designation making them international tourist attractions.

“The final decision on inclusion on the list will be made by the World heritage Committee, composed of representatives from 21 nations elected from the members of the World Heritage Convention, and advised by the International Council on Monuments and Sites,” according to an announcement by the Department of the Interior.

Other sites include in the Ohio application are the Earthworks at Newark, the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe, along with the Hopewell Mound Group and Seip, Hopeton and High Bank earthworks.

Area lawmakers had joined an effort to win the designation for the sites. The bid had been placed on hold during the transition to the Trump administration, as the appointee to the U.S. Park Service was being made and the department’s direction determined.

“For more than a decade we have worked to recognize Ohio earthworks on the World Heritage List and we are excited to be one step closer,” Burt Logan, executive director and CEO of the Ohio History Connection, said in a press release.